Entries in Oksana Makar
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LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images(MYKOLAYIV, Ukraine) -- A hospital-bed video of a Ukrainian teen recounting under her mother’s prodding how she was gang-raped, nearly strangled, dumped in a ditch and set afire by three men has been posted online, raising new outrage in a case that already sparked protests over the way it was handled by police and prosecutors.

In the video, Oksana Makar, 18, clearly in pain and distraught, tries to cover herself but her mother, Tetyana Surovitska, tells her not to and asks her repeatedly to “say a couple words to Ukraine.” Makar starts to describe her ordeal, but then breaks off and says she can’t.

Asked how her attackers should be punished, she says their testicles should be cut off and fed to dogs.

Finally asked how she wills herself to live, the young woman says, “How I will live, I will live. That’s all.”

The video, which has been posted in several places on YouTube, has drawn outraged responses, with many commenters asking how a mother could do such a thing to her daughter, and some saying that the video amounted to a second rape of the teen.

Surovitska defended herself Monday against accusations that she has been spending money raised for her daughter’s care on herself and that she was taking money from reporters in exchange for interviews.

“Look at me. Do I look like a rich woman?” she said in an interview with a Ukrainian website, Gazeta.ua.

Makar told police that on March 9, two young men she met in a bar invited her to their friend’s apartment, where all three men allegedly raped her, tried to choke her to death, wrapped her in a sheet, took her to a construction site, dumped her in a pit and set her on fire, according to the Kyiv Post.

The next day a man heard moaning coming from the construction site. He saw something moving under a charred sheet, and found Makar barely alive. He called the police, and Makar was rushed to the hospital. Fifty-five percent of her skin is gone, her kidneys were completely burned, and one of her arms and both her feet had to be amputated, according to the Kyiv Post.

She regained consciousness after surgery, but on Friday doctors induced a coma and moved her from a hospital in Mykolayiv to a burn treatment center in Donetsk, where doctors Monday said her condition was improving and they believed she now has a better chance of survival.

The case sparked demonstrations across Ukraine after police released two of the suspects shortly after their arrest. A spokeswoman for the Mykolayiv prosecutor’s office said local officials did not have enough evidence to hold them, according to the Kyiv Post, so they were classified as witnesses.

Ukraine’s chief police officer, Vitaly Zakharchenko confirmed reports that the two men who were released are the sons of former government officials. A video of one of the suspects calmly describing the attack was posted to YouTube, where it was viewed 100,000 times in the first day.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych ordered General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka to take charge of the case, and on March 13, the two men who had been released were re-arrested. All three suspects are charged with attempted murder.

iStockphoto/Thinkstock (KYIV, Ukraine) -- The condition of a young woman who was gang-raped, burned and left for dead in a Mykolayiv, Ukraine, construction-site ditch seems to be improving after she was put in an induced coma and moved to a new hospital, doctors say.

She regained consciousness after surgery, but on Friday doctors induced a coma and moved her from a hospital in Mykolayiv to a burn treatment center in Donetsk. Doctors there told the Kviv Post on Sunday her condition has stabilized, but her outlook is still uncertain.

Stefania D'Alessandro/Getty Images(KYIV, Ukraine) -- A group of bare-breasted young women scaled the front of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine this week, carrying signs saying "Death to Rapists" and "The Country Wants Vengeance," protesting the handling of the case of a young woman who was raped, dumped in a ditch and set on fire.

The demonstration in support of Oksana Makar, whose case has horrified Ukraine, is just the latest for the topless activists from the women's group Femen, which protests against prostitution, sex trafficking and violence against women.

"We want to scare men who think they can treat women like animals. We want to bring attention to this problem -- to let the world know what is happening in this country and to stop it," said Inna Shevchenko, one of the participants in the protest.

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(MYKOLAYIY, Ukraine ) -- The lenient treatment of two sons of ex-government officials accused of gang-raping a young woman and dumping her body in a construction site ditch, where they allegedly set her on fire and left her for dead has drawn protests across Ukraine about the seemingly slipshod investigation of the case, as doctors desperately try to keep her alive.

The horror of the incident, which occurred earlier this month in Mykolayiv, Ukraine, shocked the country; members of parliament have called for Ukraine to institute the death penalty for the three accused men, and one suggested that the alleged rapists be castrated.

Oksana Makar, 18, said that on March 9, she was invited by two young men, ages 21 and 23, to their friend’s apartment, where the three men allegedly gang-raped her, tried to choke her to death, wrapped her in a sheet, took her to a construction site, dumped her in a pit and set her on fire, according to the Kyiv Post.

The next day a man heard moaning coming from the construction site. He saw something moving under a charred sheet, and found Makar barely alive. He called the police, and Makar was rushed to the hospital. Fifty-five percent of her skin is gone, her kidneys were completely burned, and one of her arms and both her feet had to be amputated, according to the Kyiv Post.

After undergoing surgery, Makar recounted what she could remember to the police. The suspects were arrested that day, but two of them were released soon after. A spokeswoman for the Mykolayiv prosecutor’s office said local officials did not have enough evidence to hold them, according to the Kyiv Post, so they were classified as witnesses. The third man, who is 23, was named a suspect.

No one from the prosecutor’s office questioned Makar, saying that she was not conscious, despite the fact that her mother insisted she was awake and able to talk, according to the Kyiv Post.

The young woman gave an interview to Gazeta.ua, in which she discussed the attack and how investigators from the prosecutor’s office finally came to talk to her.

“I remember the bar and how we went to visit. Then I lost consciousness,” Makar said in an interview with Gazeta.ua. “There was a gap…I remember when I was choked. And when I regained consciousness, I remember myself lying during the night. I thought I would not survive. I could not feel my body. At first, I was screaming for help. But there was nobody there, I began to pray. I thought I had died. I remember it all as if in a fog.”

After Ukraine’s chief police officer, Vitaly Zakharchenko confirmed reports that the two men who were released are the sons of former government officials and a video of one of the suspects calmly describing the attack was posted to YouTube, where it was viewed 100,000 times in the first day, there were protests across the country.

The public outcry reached Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who ordered General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka to take charge of the case. On March 13, the two men were arrested, and all three suspects are charged with attempted murder.

The women’s rights group Femen, who stage topless protests against prostitution and sex trafficking, organized a demonstration in front of the General Prosecutors Office of Ukraine in the capital, Kyiv. They chanted “Death to the Sadists!” and “Execute the bastards!”

“My child has survived. And this is important. Everybody counted on her dying. And that she wouldn’t give evidence. But she survived,” Makar’s mother, Tetyana Surovitska, said in an interview with Gazeta.ua.

“My daughter is only 18. She hasn’t done anything in her life and has already lost everything,” Surovitska told the Kyiv Post. “Now my main aim is to make sure the bastards that hurt her are punished.”